Teaser #2 for new site.

OK, final teaser before going live with the new site.  I will continue blogging about new features and soliciting feedback, but I will do more of that when the site is live and folks can check it out.  But for the teaser shot there are 2 things to show here.  First the much improved tag cloud, and second the much improved look on a mobile device.

The new site is ready to roll, but before I turn it loose I need to ensure that I don't break anything for folks using the utilities or distributing updates via javascript/rss.  This should not take too long, and I really don't want to break anything in migration.

In terms of Unitarian universalist blogs I really like this cloud: Religion, Theology, Social Justice, Love Spirituality... good stuff.

New UUpdates Logo

It has been a while since I have made any substantial changes to UUpdates.  But after a few job changes, a career change, major surgery, moving cities, etc. etc. I finally got the time and was able to set to work on fixing some of the deficiencies with the current site.  It is not quite ready to go live, but things are definitely in the home stretch as I put it through the paces to make sure it is ready to go live.  Hopefully more will be coming soon, but in the meantime I have created a new chalice for the new site.  I have also submitted this to the UUA, for anyone who would like to reuse this for spreading the word about Unitarian Universalism please feel free. 

Roller Derby, what is the big deal?

It has been interesting to watch the Roller Derby Reverend story progress.  Along the way there have been a number of comments left on sites along the lines of "what is the big deal" about being a roller girl. Sometimes talking about how other ministers participate in other semi-pro or pro sports.  Well, if you are one of those folks I would suggest checking out this article about Roller Derby Names.  The question in the article being something along the lines of "do we want our sport to be taken seriously?" and giving examples of how the sport can sometimes be not so family friendly.  I am really glad that the Derby City Roller Girls are a great family friendly league.

The story was picked up by CNN, but they post a shorter version of the story.  Also, they got rid of any suspense and imply declared in the title that a Pastor came out as a Roller Derby girl.  Last I checked the short version of the story only had a few hundred Facebook shares, and not the 10,000+ shares the original story has.  The CNN version cutting out the "moment of acceptance" which is what I think made the original story so great.

In addition to Facebook it has been shared by Feministe as the Holy Roller (a name Liv Fearless considered but rejected). It also made it to Fark.  It even sparked a theological question for the Roller Derby commissioner.

It has been great to see people asking about Unitarian Universalism, and Roller Derby, and hopefully everyone has learned a bit about both.  It has been really great to see a positive new piece be so popular.  For CNN it was in the top 100 stories in a 24 hour period, and was the top in their lifestyle category. 


Update 9/27/2011:
Another version on YouTube: Local Reverend rolls out big secret this version is the full WHAS version minus the context of the actual news cast.

Another post I will be checking on to see the commentary (but likely won't create an account) is Would your (church?) hire a Roller Derby Girl to be a Senior Minister?  The way the question is framed it isn't really what happened (she was not involved with Roller Derby while a candidate), but could be interesting.

My wife is in the news

I have a few nitpicks with the story, but overall i think they did a good job: Local reverend rolls out big secret.

TV show Theology

The questions was asked: "What tv shows get you thinking about theology and ethics the most?"

In terms of theology I would have to go with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or most any vampire show. The vampire mythos involve mechanics based on theology and so certain questions arise. Would a vampire recoil from any symbol of faith (chalice, cross, star of David, etc.)? Can all clergy create Holy Water? Does the symbol of faith have an inherent power over vampires, or is it the faith of the person wielding it that imbues it with the power? If it is the wielder then would an atheist have any symbol? If someone saw that certain holy items protected against vampires would they still be an atheist? In the context of Buffy some of these questions are answered, so the question then becomes if "you" were writing a vampire tale how would you handle these questions. What aspects of the vampire mythos would need to change to be consistent with your worldview?